Does hell really make sense?

[Barnabas]

Except that the protestants do not include all the same books as the Catholics.

Additionally, the books that are included in the Bible were quoted from and mostly agreed about in the 2nd century AD.

The Priests basically didn't do their job (at least, the Catholic ones). Otherwise the reformation would not have been required.

JM
(you missed some like the mar thomas and copts and so on)

The Gospel is the same, the difference between protestant and catholic bibles is in the OT, Tobit, Maccabees etc.

[Aeson]

Hell makes a helluva lot of sense (in context with life). It's heaven that doesn't make sense. Why does getting hit by a bus suddenly make suffering not important for personal/spiritual advancement?

[Kidlicious]

The issue is that it didn't go that way.
1500 years after Jesus, Christian denominations could be counted with the fingers of one hand (Western Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Nestorian Church of the East) and the differences were small, about complex theological points with regards to the Nature of Christ (his divinity and humanity), which were sometimes almost semantic differences.
And Church organization, how much authority does the Pope of Rome have, is he just a primus inter pares or does he have authority over all the Church?

On most things, all Churches agreed on everything.

Only with the protestant reformation Churches become over a thousand, each one with different beliefs, because every man suddenly thinks he has the right to interpret the Bible as he wishes. As if Jesus had not founded a Church, and as if the bible were an object that fell from heaven, instead of being a collection of books made by the Church.
If some fourth century pope had wanted it, protestants nowadays would have the Shepherd of Hermas or the Book of Clement in the Bible and concfcsider it inspired by God.

The Protestant pov is that there were many problems with the church one of which was that it was interpreting the bible wrong and they wouldn't even read it to people in a language they could understand.

[Berzerker]

Why would god annihilate his own creations though? Surely that would mean that his creations were flawed, which is supposed to be impossible for an omnipotent being, no?

Why cant an omnipotent being create flawed critters? More entertaining than perfection if you ask me

[Jon Miller]

Is free will a flaw?

JM

[Imran Siddiqui]

I highly doubt anyone here would disagree with Ask, Seek, Knock.

Well I was mostly referring to differences between John Calvin and Jacob Arminius about election and free will in the obtaining of salvation (try or not try depends on who you agree with - at least in the Protestant world).

[Ben Kenobi]

Well I was mostly referring to differences between John Calvin and Jacob Arminius about election and free will in the obtaining of salvation (try or not try depends on who you agree with - at least in the Protestant world).

Oh sure. I was an Arminian many years ago now.

[Dr Strangelove]

Only with the protestant reformation Churches become over a thousand, each one with different beliefs, because every man suddenly thinks he has the right to interpret the Bible as he wishes.

Meh, People do that anyway and would do that anyway with or without the reformation and they'll keep doing it unless you re-instate the burning of heretics and ban the publication of the Bible and other religious books in the peoples' vernacular then confiscate and burn all the Bibles and religious books in the vernacular.

[Ben Kenobi]

Uh, last I checked Barnabas wasn't Anglican.

[Kidlicious]

Uh, last I checked Barnabas wasn't Anglican.

[Kidlicious]

Well I was mostly referring to differences between John Calvin and Jacob Arminius about election and free will in the obtaining of salvation (try or not try depends on who you agree with - at least in the Protestant world).

I don't believe in the doctrine of total depravity. On the other hand I don't believe that God's elect can go to hell. God won't allow that because He loves us too much. I know some Free Will Baptists believe otherwise. Who still believes in total depravity? I don't know.

[Berzerker]

Is free will a flaw?

JM

it is if god was expecting obedience

[Dinner]

True. Which makes it rather pathetic when their bronze age deity supposedly destroys whole cities for not doing what they're told to do. Either he's a sadist or the whole god thing is nonsense.

[Kidlicious]

True. Which makes it rather pathetic when their bronze age deity supposedly destroys whole cities for not doing what they're told to do. Either he's a sadist or the whole god thing is nonsense.

God only destroys the wicked. He's God. It's His job.

[giblets]

I don't get why you would create wickedness in the first place if you want to destroy it.